Oor Nicola Sturgeon thread.

[tirso]

Just now, DeeTillEhDeh said:

They don't need 50% of the vote though..

What will be interesting is what happens to the Unionist vote - will it go to the Tories or will it be spread across the Unionist parties allowing the SNP to hold sears and take Unionist seats like Edinburgh West.

The SNP themselves have never said they needed a majority - an increase in seats for independence parties would be enough IMHO.

Nah for a referendum it does.  If they don't get more than half the vote the quotes are already written for the opposition to indyref2.  With it , it's still going to be difficult but London's stance becomes much tougher.  Given we were there according to polling already, a mandate on a minority vote will be ripped to shreds.  Just my view.

[pandarilla]

Nah for a referendum it does.  If they don't get more than half the vote the quotes are already written for the opposition to indyref2.  With it , it's still going to be difficult but London's stance becomes much tougher.  Given we were there according to polling already, a mandate on a minority vote will be ripped to shreds.  Just my view.

I'd agree but add in the proviso that snp+greens must be over 50%.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I'd agree but add in the proviso that snp+greens must be over 50%.

That's more what I was driving at - 50%+ of seats and votes for independence parties.

[Bert Raccoon]

It's all going to be down to how well Sturgeon and the SNP can spin this, done correctly and it could certainly gain votes but it is going to be an incredibly tricky week or so for them.

[strichener]

Nicola before giving evidence - I welcome the opportunity to put my side of the story to the inquiry.

Nicola today - "What has been clear is that opposition members of this committee made their minds up before I uttered a single word of evidence. Their public comments have made that clear."

Assuming that all the SNP members believed her then we certainly have a problem with credibility and it isn't with the non-SNP members.

[Left Back]

Sturgeon just got shoed on question time in a way I’ve never seen before.  Fiona Bruce went totally off topic and basically asked her own question to Kirsten Oswald in the middle of a discussion about vaccine nationalism.

[tirso]

15 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

17 minutes ago, tirso said:

Nah for a referendum it does.  If they don't get more than half the vote the quotes are already written for the opposition to indyref2.  With it , it's still going to be difficult but London's stance becomes much tougher.  Given we were there according to polling already, a mandate on a minority vote will be ripped to shreds.  Just my view.

I'd agree but add in the proviso that snp+greens must be over 50%.

Yeah I agree with that.

[tirso]

1 minute ago, Left Back said:

Sturgeon just got shoed on question time in a way I’ve never seen before.  Fiona Bruce went totally off topic and basically asked her own question to Kirsten Oswald in the middle of a discussion about vaccine nationalism.

Am no bbc fan but hardly surprising.  It is news.

[sparky88]

7 minutes ago, strichener said:

Nicola before giving evidence - I welcome the opportunity to put my side of the story to the inquiry.

Nicola today - "What has been clear is that opposition members of this committee made their minds up before I uttered a single word of evidence. Their public comments have made that clear."

Assuming that all the SNP members believed her then we certainly have a problem with credibility and it isn't with the non-SNP members.

Dont know why they didn't just let her pick the committee members.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, strichener said:

Nicola before giving evidence - I welcome the opportunity to put my side of the story to the inquiry.

Nicola today - "What has been clear is that opposition members of this committee made their minds up before I uttered a single word of evidence. Their public comments have made that clear."

Assuming that all the SNP members believed her then we certainly have a problem with credibility and it isn't with the non-SNP members.

The fact that the opposition members of the committee had already publicly condemned her as guilty prior to actually hearing or seeing the evidence speaks volumes I'd say.

There's only one lot coming out of this damaged and with zero credibility and it isn't NS or the SNP..........

[Mr Tourette]

Sturgeon just got shoed on question time in a way I’ve never seen before.  Fiona Bruce went totally off topic and basically asked her own question to Kirsten Oswald in the middle of a discussion about vaccine nationalism.

Yeh, tbf, Oswald should have deflected the whole thing by saying “I’m not going to comment on a leak. Let’s wait until the official release of both enquiry reports”

Hislop and that Brummie bint got tore in right enough. Was quite surprised by that

[sparky88]

8 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

The fact that the opposition members of the committee had already publicly condemned her as guilty prior to actually hearing or seeing the evidence speaks volumes I'd say.

There's only one lot coming out of this damaged and with zero credibility and it isn't NS or the SNP..........

And the SNP members of course carefully considered their judgement and went into the inquiry with an open mind, of course. 

Don't know why NS bothered with the committee when she was never going to accept the outcome. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by sparky88

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Yeh, tbf, Oswald should have deflected the whole thing by saying “I’m not going to comment on a leak. Let’s wait until the official release of both enquiry reports”

Hislop and that Brummie bint got tore in right enough. Was quite surprised by that

Who actually watches QT these days?

Audience figures at a record low.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18896702.bbc-question-time-viewing-figures-defended-amid-record-low-reports/

It has little or no influence on the issues of the day.

[paolo2143]

33 minutes ago, pandarilla said:

35 minutes ago, tirso said:

Nah for a referendum it does.  If they don't get more than half the vote the quotes are already written for the opposition to indyref2.  With it , it's still going to be difficult but London's stance becomes much tougher.  Given we were there according to polling already, a mandate on a minority vote will be ripped to shreds.  Just my view.

I'd agree but add in the proviso that snp+greens must be over 50%.

Let's be honest even if the SNP had gotten 52% of the vote and a majority the UK Govt and Tory media would still say that it didn't count.

The fact is the Tories only got 43.5% of vote in 2019 and more people voted for anti Brexit deal parties than pro Brexit deal.

Boris & Tory media still claimed he had mandate to implement his Brexit deal. The Scottish Parliamentary elections are set up so a majority is virtually impossible to get.

As long as there is a pro Indy majority we can proceed with Indy plans, although the bigger the better.

[jamamafegan]

I’m not fully clued up on this but am I right in thinking that the committee who have come to this decision are the same freaks who were interrogating Sturgeon during the enquiry? If so it’s clearly a continuation of the witch hunt. Remember some had already decided she was already guilty before it had even started.

[SANTAN]

[paolo2143]

6 minutes ago, sparky88 said:

And the SNP members of course carefully considered their judgement and went into the inquiry with an open mind, of course. 

Don't know why NS bothered with the committee when she was never going to accept the outcome. 

At least the SNP members weren't openly tweeting that she was innocent before she had given her evidence, or indeed performing running commentary throughout the last 2 months.

This committee was pointless and basically was always going to be 5-4 one way or the other.

[Left Back]

2 minutes ago, paolo2143 said:

At least the SNP members weren't openly tweeting that she was innocent before she had given her evidence, or indeed performing running commentary throughout the last 2 months.

This committee was pointless and basically was always going to be 5-4 one way or the other.

Another alleged waste of taxpayers money then?

[Gordon EF]

I'm utterly shocked that people who said Nicola Sturgeon was lying before they heard her answer to the committee have now concluded that she was lying.

Did anyone see this coming?

Edited March 18, 2021 by Gordon EF

[AMMjag]

Solely from the perspective of wanting to see Scotland become independent at some point in the relatively near future, the most grating thing is that this could very likely have been put to bed far, far earlier than now if even one of Leslie Evans, Judith McKinnon, Liz Lloyd had been punted at the crucial moment of the failure of the judicial review (as they inevitably will be in any case).

For that not to have happened, and for this to have dragged on to one week before parliament breaks for an election, is stupifyingly weak leadership however you look at it.

As to where things stand now, for what was supposed to be a favourably balanced committee for the SG to be about to reach the conclusions that it is, is not a good starting point, with the independent report still due and aspects (such as a potentially criminal tabloid leak) free to open up at any given point in future. 

Even if the 'smoking gun' zinger everyone is waiting for doesn't come out of any of that, Sturgeon's credibility will be relentlessly challenged over the next 6/7 weeks and, even if you hold that her personal performance comes out of this squeaky clean, she's walked way too far down the road with bumbling idiots like her husband, Liz Lloyd, Leslie Evans et al for their shit not to stick to her.

If the SNP was the consolidated, independence-first movement it was in 2015 then this might not be overly damaging electorally. Sadly, she has also precided over (and directly contributed to) the party becoming a divided mess over pointless factions since then, so it's hard to see a core vote guarding her against any kickback.